Re: clean hd-media install onto hard drive partition of old SCSI box
On Wed 17 Jul 2013 at 15:18:27 -0400, sar0113@nc.rr.com wrote:
> I want to install a recent Debian distribution on a clean partition of
> a stand-alone SCSI box which runs multiple legacy OSes, including
> Woody. I did not upgrade Woody because driver support for my Initio
> SCSI host adapter was problematic with supplied 2.6 kernels for
> several years, but apparently resolved according to a Debian bug
> report.
#318121?
On Wheezy:
brian@desktop:~$ locate initio.ko
/lib/modules/3.2.0-4-686-pae/kernel/drivers/scsi/initio.ko
So it looks like you are good to go.
> Unfortunately I cannot boot from my SCSI CD-ROM after configuring the
> host adapter BIOS and drive to do so, so I was unable to boot a
> live CD and test legacy hardware support. No BIOS support for USB
> booting, either. I have found a full commercially-prepared set of
> Debian 5 CDs which should include the Initio driver I need, so I am
> trying to figure out how to install from these CDs through a hard
> drive-based install located in the same partition where I want Debian
> 5 installed. Cue Debian install guide and FAQ.
>
> I have initialized a 3.3 MB ext3 root partition for Debian 5 and
> downloaded the hd-media versions of vmlinuz, initrd.gz, boot.img.gz and
> a cd ISO from the official Debian archives.
The 3.3 MB root partition isn't required. I suppose you could use it,
but it appears to me to complicate things.
boot.img.gz isn't needed either.
> 1) If I install this kernel and iso image in my Debian 5 root
> partition with lilo or grub, I should automatically launch the Debian 5
> installer after booting this partition, correct?
I'd put vmlinuz and initrd.gz in /boot/ and the cd ISO in /, a place
where d-i is likely to find it when it looks for it. d-i can also locate
the ISO if it is on a USB stick.
You didn't say what your existing bootloader is. GRUB Legacy? If so. you
write a stanza in its configuration file giving the locations of vmlinuz
and initrd.gz so you can boot the kernel.
> 2) How do I go about creating the rudimentary file system I need be
> able to install lilo or grub on the clean root partition - without
> what subdirectories and executables do I need and where do I find
> them without a working Debian 5 system to clone?
>
>
> 3a) If I can launch the Debian Installer this way, will it allow me to
> manually switch package sources from Debian servers to my CD-ROM (which
> presumably I can mount once the installer has loaded the Initio SCSI
> driver module.)?
This could be done after you have installed from the cd ISO and have
booted into the new system.
> 3b) If not, will the installer pull packages from my CDs if I replace
> the hd-media version of the cd ISO image with the CD version of the
> cd #1 ISO image?
You can certainly use cd #1 but, never having done it, I'm not certain
about how d-i deals with the other CDs.
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